


Of Cake and Pudding

by Lachesissora



Series: DMC Gen week [6]
Category: Devil May Cry
Genre: DMC Gen Week, DMC5 post canon, Family Feels, Father and son bonding, Fluff and Angst, Gen, baking time, domestic vergil, he just turn so soft, maybe..., maybe? - Freeform, nero may look rough but he understand his dad, nero's mom is mentioned, tbh i love vergil when he do domestic stuff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-02
Updated: 2019-08-02
Packaged: 2020-07-29 13:04:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20082676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lachesissora/pseuds/Lachesissora
Summary: Just father and son in the kitchen, baking.





	Of Cake and Pudding

**Author's Note:**

> Part of DMC Gen Week
> 
> Day 6: Birthday

“What are you doing, Nero?”

Vergil watched as his son, cracked a dozen of eggs into a bowl. Nero stopped at his track, clearly surprised to see his father standing at the kitchen doorway.  _ When on earth did he arrive? _ He rolled his eyes.

“Hey, _dad_. Fancy seeing you teleporting into my house, _ again. _ Doesn’t it bother you to ring the bell or give us a call like any normal person would do?” Nero said.

“I found it unnecessary to do so.” Vergil replied.

Nero turned to his father, clearly in disbelief. “Seriously, it’s called courtesy, old man! You can’t keep on teleporting here unannounced. You giving us all one hell of a shock!”

“But I don’t see anyone here.” Vergil looked around the empty kitchen and the courtyard. Since he had arrived here, he didn’t sense any of the occupants in the house or even in the backyard (except for Nero). He found it kinda odd considering every time he visited his son, this house would be lively with children screaming.

“They are all out for the day. They’ll be back before dinner. You’re lucky it is just me in the house or you would have scared the shit out of the kids!” Nero gestured to his dad to sit. He continued to open the cupboard to take out a tin of condensed milk. He opened the container with ease and put it inside the bowl with eggs.

“You didn’t answer my question earlier” Vergil spoke after watching his son threw the tin away to the trash.

Nero, as if he was caught off guard, rub the back of his neck and his nose. “I’m trying to make a pudding.”

His father made a silent ‘Oh’ sound and then proceed to take the cookbook from the table. He opened the page that had a mark on it. “Caramel pudding?”

“Yeah…” Nero answered. He had turned his back from his father, trying to hide the blush on his face. If anything, Vergil didn’t notice as he was reading the list of ingredients and the steps to make. Nero cleared his throat, “What brings you here, dad? Did Dante do something stupid  _ again? _ ” Nero had noticed a pattern that whenever his father came to his house, it’s always because of him  _ running away _ from his twin’s stupid antics. Today was just like any other of those days.

“Dante thought it was a good idea to do the plumbing on his own. He ended up having the kitchen flooded with water and a broken sink.” Vergil said casually, putting the book down. 

_ Dante? Did the plumbing? _ Nero blinked his eyes. His father just nodded. Well that was new. He never would have thought his uncle would do those mundane tasks. He knew his uncle so well. Dante would probably let the sink clogged until god knows when. He never cared whether the shop was out of water or electricity. He just let them be. Well, that was before his father returned back into his uncle's life. Vergil had forced Dante to cleaned up the shop and even unofficially elected himself as the shop accountant. He managed everything and even cleared up Dante’s debts. Nero doubted that his uncle voluntarily took that plumbing job. It’s probably because his father had yelled at him to do so.

“For the record, I was about to call for the plumber before Dante decided that he wanted to fix it. But he refused and proceed to destroy the kitchen.” Vergil explained as if he knew what his son was thinking. 

“Yeah, right…” Nero said “Well you’re in luck, we’re having a feast tonight.”

“What’s the occasion?” Vergil asked.

“Kyrie’s birthday is tomorrow. And we’re having an early dinner celebration for that.” Nero beamed. Since Kyrie would be busy with her work at the orphanage tomorrow, Nero had suggested that they should celebrate it a day before. He had made sure that Nico had taken Kyrie and the kids out for the day as he prepared for the whole dinner. He already cooked pasta and it sauce (he made it from scratch) and all that’s left was the dessert.

“Is that why you make the pudding instead of a cake?” Vergil saw his son turned away sheepishly.

“I- I don’t know how to bake.” Nero admitted shyly, his hand rubbed his nose again. A habit that he had developed whenever he was anxious, nervous or embarrassed. It reminded Vergil of someone who he used to know so dearly on this island; Nero’s mother.

“I can help you with the cake.” Vergil rose from his seat and walked to the kitchen counter. 

“Wait- what? You can bake?” Nero stuttered as he was clearly taken aback. His ears must be playing with him or something. Surely, there’s no way for this man to know how to bake right? Nero couldn’t even imagine it.

“If my memory serves me well, then yes. I know how.” Vergil said, flipping the pages of the cookbook to find a simple cake recipe. “Do we have enough ingredients to bake a cake?”

“I- I think so. Kyrie had restocked it on her last grocery shopping. You can check it on that cupboard and inside the fridge.” Nero gestured to the cupboard on his left, Vergil went on to take out the ingredients necessary to bake a cake. Nero took it as a cue to continue with his pudding. He put the pudding mixture into small bowls he had prepared with the caramel beforehand. Once he had done, he put it on the steamer to steam the puddings for 60 minutes.

He looked over to his father. Vergil had put most of the ingredients on the counter. Nero felt like wanting to pinch himself just to check if he was dreaming. Watching his father making a mental note for himself for the recipe looked so out of character. Nero wondered if the man beside him really was his father. His father was calculative, stoic and ruthless, and this was out of the three things he had described his father as.

Guess he got to see more of his father other than that cold demeanour. 

“You sure you know what you’re doing?” Nero eyed his father closely, part of him was still suspicious of his father’s claim.

“Mother used to bake us a cake for our birthday. I sometimes helped her out and she would show me the steps to make one. Dante on the other hand, always made a mess whenever he tried to help.” Vergil said. His expression softened as he recalled the memories. He remembered his mother guided him to measure the flour and Dante attempts to steal the strawberries. It brought joy to his little self as he learned the wonders of baking. And after they left the cake to bake in the oven, their mother would let them lick the chocolate batter from the bowl, which always resulted in him and Dante fighting over it. He turned to his son, his mouth curved upward a little, “So of course, I know what I am doing.” 

If this was just a dream, Nero wished he would never wake up from it. For the first time ever, his father gave him the softest smile he had ever seen displayed by his father instead of his usual scowl. Nero was captivated by his father’s soft gaze. He rubbed his nose again to contain his blush. “Erm.. can you teach me?”

“Certainly. That’s why I had offered in the first place.” Vergil smile for awhile before he was back to his normal cold expression. “Now, help me measure the flour, Nero. Make sure you measure it correctly alas the cake will not turn out exactly what we want.”

* * *

After an hour battling in the kitchen, the cake was now in the oven ready to bake. Nero was surprised with himself. It seemed like baking a cake wasn’t that bad afterall. His father had assisted him in every step of the baking process. For once, they didn't argue at all, which was a surprise considering they were always at odds with one another. His father was a lot more relaxed than he usually was and he was very patient with his teaching. Nero enjoyed this change of pace. At least they were bonding outside of their usual sparring practice.

Nero put the pudding into the fridge and gathered the used dishes to put it in a sink for him to clean up. He glanced toward his father, who was now sitting comfortably with his tea. Nero couldn’t help it but to see the empty look of his father’s gaze before he started washing the dishes.

“Nero, were you aware…” His father hesitated. Nero turned off the tap and faced his father.

“Aware of what, dad?”

After a minute of silence, his father spoke again, “Your birthday… Did you know your birthday?”

Of all the questions his father could had asked, Nero didn’t expect his father to ask this question. Nero walked over to the nearest chair and sat there. He pondered for awhile and then he shrugged. “To be honest, I don’t know... Nobody knows the exact date of my birth. I was probably a few days or weeks old when they found me at the orphanage. They just put the date when they found me as my official birth date to make it easy for them. I don't really care about it. It’s just a date.”

He lied. Nero actually  _ did _ care about it. He had asked the grown ups at the orphanage repeatedly regarding his real birthday to the point they didn’t even bother to entertain him anymore. It was such a big deal to him that he threw a tantrum over it. He hated the birth date that they had given to him. He hated it so much because they kept on reminding him of the day his mother abandoned him. He refused to celebrate his birthday on that date and chose to celebrate it on other days instead, despite celebrating it alone. It’s until Kyrie’s parents fostered him that he finally  _ changed _ his birthday to another date.

Nero lied and his father  _ knew _ . 

Nero glanced at his father again, Vergil was in deep thought again. The two of them rarely talked about the past. It had taken Nero a lot of attempts to make his father finally talk about his mother. And it had been involved in a lot of arguments and curses thrown back and forth. He finally knew the reason why his father refused to talk about it: guilt. His father had told him how much he regretted leaving his mother behind. How he was such a fool, too blinded by his quest for power. And he admitted that it was his  _ cowardice  _ that let him to leave her, unaware of the seed he had left in her. 

Vergil had said it was impossible for her to abandon her own child as it’s very unlikely of her to do so. But Nero knew that his father was uncertain of that possibility. Regardless of that, Nero was left by the orphanage door.

Thinking of his mother, might as well asked more about her since they were dwelling in the past.

“Dad, what’s my mother like?”

Vergil gaze past his son. His eyes grew distant, probably reminiscing of the past love he used to have. “She was kind, smart but stubborn. She spoke of her mind freely unlike any other woman here. She was rather bold as well and probably reckless and determined when she set her mind on something” Vergil gave a sad smile, “She loved children the most.”

Nero mouth opened for a bit at the information. It would be ironic for her to abandon her own child if she loved children, right? Unless she was forced to. Unless she was already passed away when she gave birth to him. Nero gulped down the lump in his throat.

“You never tell me about her name.” Nero tried to steady his voice.

It’s not like Vergil didn’t want to tell Nero her name. He wanted to but he couldn’t. His memories of hers were hazy. He hardly remembered her face anymore, much to his regret. All he remembered of her was her smile, her touch, and her affections for him. But even so it was a blur. As if everything that happened in the past was just a dream. 

_ Ting!! _

The sound from the oven broke the atmosphere and Vergil quickly stride to the oven to check on the cake. They had decided to bake a chocolate cake since that was the only thing available and the easiest one to bake. Vergil was satisfied that the cake was cook well and took it out from the oven to rest it.

Nero followed his father to the kitchen counter. He knew his father would not answer his previous question, but Nero didn’t mind it at all. He needed to be patient, Kyrie had once reminded him, and he would do exactly as that until his father was ready to tell him. (Part of him had suspected that his father might have forgotten about it due to his trauma but he would leave it at that)

“So, when can we coat it with the chocolate glaze?” Nero asked trying to light up the mood.

“Soon after the cake has cooled down. Do you happen to have a whip cream?”

“I think we do.”

“Then let’s prepare for the decoration.”

**Author's Note:**

> I never bake a cake in my whole entire life, nor have I make a pudding before. 
> 
> I think i deviate a little from the prompt but they are talking about birthday so it still fit. idk


End file.
